A very subjective look into AWFC

by Demian Arriaga

PODCAST

  • Unreal

    I am so, so gutted for Victoria Pelova and for the squad. The news of her ACL injury must be devastating for her, for her family, her team (management, agents, etc) and of course her teammates for both club and country. I’m afraid we all knew this is what the injury was. We all had a feeling, we saw the play, we saw her knee, we saw her reaction.

    So, beyond pointing any fingers and putting blame on anyone, let’s focus on her and what we can do as a fan base to help her get through this terrible period. I personally don’t know what to do, the same way that I didn’t know what to do with other players, but yet another ACL in jury is absolutely mental.

    Of course its hard to think of many positives but I will try, just for the sake of perspective… She has seen how recovery goes. She has been there for Viv and the rest when they needed HER and she will have people around her for HER too. She also knows the struggles both mental and physical so this injury is not a complete unknown for her and might be “easier” to deal with than if she has no idea what to expect.

    She has an incredible medical team in the NL squad and of course Arsenal have a ton of experience with this type of injury, sadly.

    It’s hard to just think that Beth, Viv or Leah can return to their super high level, but with Vic, being younger and with many more years ahead of her, I am actually very confident that she will not only recover, but be even stronger and better than she was. I would bet on it.

    I have the same feeling with her as I did with Laura. It might take some time but I think both of these players have what it takes to come back and be a better version of themselves.

    I’ll talk about her work load, that manager and options for the future. For now I will do my best to respect this moment and respect her because it is the least that she deserves.

    Vic is a player that gives her all every single minute of every single match and that level of enthusiasm and drive is hard to come by. She reminds me of some singers I’ve worked with when they don’t have an off switch. They know they should be marking the vocals aka not singing full out, but they can’t help themselves and they should belt every moment they can.

    d ❤

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  • Laura, calm and no Vic

    Extending Laura’s is very good news. It’s good news for her, it’s good news for the fans, it’s good news for the club, and there is absolutely no downside to this whatsoever. This is a bit of business that I am 100% fully behind and I really hope that the short term future involves a very competitive and active tandem of right backs in Laura and Emily.

    I don’t have kids but have been around them tons, and this signing kinda feels like when you clean up a kid’s play room. A few minutes before there’s just stuff everywhere, nothing makes sense, you can find anything from chocolate pieces to things that look like chocolate pieces but aren’t chocolate. The latter is kinda what that manager has created in our club, so to see Laura extend, coupled with Leah as well, is like cleaning stuff and putting things in their assigned place. Most of them anyway.

    In other non news and the apparent calm that is around the fan base is more like the burning home meme where the little dog is drinking coffee and saying to himself: I’m fine. And of course I’m talking about the lack of news regarding Pelova.

    Why have we not been told? There is no way it takes this long to figure out what the injury is or at least for the club to say something about it. There are different protocols for the releasing of news regarding things such as injuries or personal time off in/for the Netherlands so we’ll just have to wait and see but I am not hopeful at all. I am convinced this is a really bad injury. I feel really bad for her and that wasn’t a good tackle to make but the way she landed after was catastrophic and I would be surprised if she isn’t ready for the start of the season, if that.

    Once the news are confirmed I will talk more about it but if you’re read this blog for the past 2 or 3 months you would have read that I have felt she has been injured. I have seen her play so many matches and she didn’t seem to be running the same way.

    I am not a stats person but I can pretty much guarantee there has been a considerable drop-off in her performances, assists and goals. She had a good 3 or 4 months and then probably around the time she got injured or started with some issues, it all went south and I know it’s very hard for some fans to see and admit it but she hasn’t been the same player you all love for a while. She seems hesitant in decision making and things like that be affected when we don’t feel our body is there perfectly sound.

    She doesn’t deserve this injury, she doesn’t deserve any injury ever and neither do any of the players. The fans will have an absolute meltdown and the club better be lining up midfielders which we need anyway.

    d ❤

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  • Leah @ Oxford

    Once again I opt out of writing anything on here because I think this one video I just watched is better and more important than anything I can say, so please, if you haven’t watched it, please take 20 minutes of your time.

    Leah’s insights are fascinating and she talks about so many topics. Absolutely worth watching every single second. And I have to say I really enjoy seeing someone I admire and respect so much, express herself the way she always does, with such eloquence and intelligence.

    We’re so lucky to have her.

    I am not allowed to embed it for some reason but here’s the link

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7STOZb50kjI


    d ❤

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  • Placebo

    Among all the football competitions I have to say that the Olympics is the one I care about the least, with the massive caveat that is the Dutch playing or not. If they are in the competition I’m keeping a very close eye, and if they aren’t I’m basically not shaping my life around these matches, and I know I’m not alone in this. I’ve spoken to a few people that also don’t rate the Olympics that much. But why is it? Why am I thinking this way when I was all about the previous Olympics? with or without the dutch playing? I was watching every match. And I think I know the answer.

    Well now I know how much football these players play, whereas before I was totally oblivious to their game load. To a degree I feel complicit and guilty if I take part or contribute in watching the matches kinda like the way I feel about Arsenal Women coming to the states this August.

    Like of course I love watching them play, but at what cost? Not sure this question by me is the right one or a fair one, but I just don’t think they should be playing and they should be resting, honestly. It’s just too much and I even though I know my attendance or TV viewership is completely irrelevant, I feel like this is a placebo thing and I am actually contributing in a way.

    Plus, like I’ve said before, a trip inside the USA for a match with zero stakes is just not worth it to me, specially once I’ve experience the real life, WSL and FA Cup stakes. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t go… but if the tickets, food, parking, merch and maybe plane ticket will cost you $500, then fly to London for $600 and stay at a cheap hostel and to the full thing. It’s absolutely worth it.

    And also, go watch them if you can, because life is too short and you never know what the hell can happen. Honestly. Ignore me.

    In other news, I am proud to say I won another silver medal, this time playing mixed doubles and I am so very proud of my partner who is a fucking warrior and an amazing human being and she kicked ass.

    Enjoy the rest of your Sunday and if you know of a link to watch the full Soccer Aid match once its over, please send it!

    d ❤


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  • Your boy did it

    My friends, when I tell you that yesterday was I crazy day… sheeeeeeesh!!!!

    So, normally I get around writing a post around 8am, which means I’m already up by 7 or earlier, depending on what I have to do that day. Yesterday though, was a bit strange because I knew I had to be out of my house around 10:45 to get to my tournament at 11am since my bracket started at 12pm. I had planned to try to get more sleep than usual but I went to get water at 7am and said to myself: write the blog now and go back to sleep because you won’t have time later (If you don’t know what I’m talking about it’s all laid out in the previous post).

    I published the post at 7:08 am, brushed my teeth and suddenly I checked my phone and I got a text message saying: your bracket is starting shortly! Be at the front desk in 10 minutes.

    What?!?! It was supposed to be at noon and somehow they changed the times and never informed me so I had to rush out of my house, and all my preparation, stretching and visualization plans went out the window and I had to wake my wife up and have her drive me while I got dressed, ate and basically didn’t have a panic attack.

    All this to say that if it weren’t for waking up to write the blog I wouldn’t have made it. So I have to thank you and of course AWFC 🙂

    Singles in pickleball are very, very hard and in two years I have never ever played a competitive match and more over, I’ve only played singles even for fun with friends once and then another time semi-serious about a week ago but never ever in a competitive setting. I haven’t trained, I haven’t been running and I haven’t even been playing because my parents were here, music stuff etc.

    I can happily report that I accomplished my goal of medaling and I won the silver. I could go into more detail and specifically about the mental thing, how I sucks to lose a final, the overthinking, the regrets and all that but I need to let that go as I have another format to play today in mixed doubles.

    Wore my Beth Mead away kit.. the blue and green, and you will see some pics on my instagram shortly.

    This blog literally saved me and this blog means YOU, so thank YOU!!!!!

    d ❤


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  • I’m Leah today

    A few months ago I was scheduled to play in what would’ve been my 4th pickleball tournament here in Los Angeles. A few days before said event they called and canceled it due to impending rain storms, which by the way, never happened. However, they rescheduled it and I’m excited to play in it today and tomorrow.

    As you can imagine I will rep AWFC somehow attire-wise but moreover I will certainly try my best to channel their inspiration and play the best that I can, in a situation when all things considered, the stakes are high in that it’s a tournament, people will be watching in the stands here and there and also it’s my ego and I wanna win goddamn it.

    One thing that always blows my mind is how anxious/nervous/excited I get when I have to play sports in a competitive situation. I swear to you I didn’t get 1/100th of how I am now when I perform in front of thousands of people and since I saw Leah’s documentary on the BBC saying basically the same thing but in her it was with playing piano and NOT the Euro’s final… it’s just nuts how life is.

    I have explained on here before how it’s understandable to relax and enjoy a high pressure situation in the arts because the stakes are just much lower when there’s not a competition, and even when you enter a band contest for instance, at the end of the day that is all subjective, whereas with football or pickleball it is a factual thing that you either lose or you win, and our opinion on the matter is irrelevant.

    I’ll let you know how I do tomorrow and I should be uploading pics and videos on my socials if I can.

    d ❤


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  • Candente, Caldentey, Caliente

    One of the worst ways to start a blog is buy writing something like: the worst kept secret…. So technically I didn’t start with that line and I can actually use it BUT since it wasn’t a secret and it was irresponsibly leaked a few weeks ago, we all have to act surprised or like we didn’t know.

    I, like millions of others, really rate Caldentey and I wrote here months ago that I would love to see her at our club and I’m really happy that she is coming and I’m very excited to have her drive, grit and ability on our squad.

    Now, this is something that I will chat about in a more detailed manner on the podcast next week, but it doesn’t go unnoticed that the club has claimed to want to go towards a “younger” direction and aim for the future and yet they sign a 28 year old, older that Viv btw.

    Not bothered by her age at all, I’ve spoken about this many times… it’s the seemingly hypocritical situation that rubs me the wrong way.

    Either way I truly hope that she is embraced as her own woman and not a replacement for an irreplaceable player and you bet your bum I will be here supporting her. She’s a winner, a champion, and might be the most decorated player to ever play for our club??? is that right to assume???

    Her attitude will be very beneficial for the players and the massive caveat is to wait and see how that manager uses her and rotates her.

    No news on Vic and that might be good news… let’s hope.

    d ❤


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  • Great managers solve problems, not create them

    Ah… the injernatoinal break…

    Welp… players getting hurt left and right. We all knew this would happen. Foord hurt, Pelova with a potential ACL injury and that’s just for us at Arsenal, with many other players getting hurt for other nations/clubs. And even though we’ve been programmed to know this its still brutal every time and my heart goes out to all the players.

    Of course injuries can happen out of the blue and some have to do with a continuous wear and tear of muscles, etc. Not going to blame that manager at our club fully, but I would venture to guess that both Caitlin and Vic are players that have had a ton of minutes, barely rotated, same with LWM, and all 3 are injured. I’m not an expert and because I am not it’s easy for me to draw parallels that might not be there but once again… I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the reason.

    Imagining that this is the reason why all 3 are injured, then this has to fall on that manager. Also, in case you’re new here, after the Miedema incident I call the manager at our club “that manager” because I’m petty.

    The reality is that all 3 players could’ve and should’ve been rotated. And such negligence falls on one person if you ask me, but again, I’m not an expert and if I sounds like I’m just blaming that manager because I don’t think he’s the right choice going forward this is somewhat accurate.

    Among my issues is not just that he’s not rotating them but that he’s starting them so often. It seems like the same thing but it’s not… like imagine he starts them 8 matches out of 10, I personally would drastically change that ratio. I don’t even know if ratio is the right word but you get my point.

    So yeah, my opinion is that any manager that overloads the players in responsible for some types of injuries and it’s not like Arsenal and little tiny Welsh club that has no funds or no squad depth.

    Great managers are problem solvers, not problem creators.

    d ❤


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  • A very fine line

    Saying that social media is messed up and has ruined a lot of things is not an insane statement, is it? Of course there have been so many positive things for us as a society such as live, on the spot and on location news. For instance, without social media we wouldn’t see what is happening in Gaza. There’s no going back, social media has been the past and will continue to be a massive part of our lives for a long time.

    Another positive thing has been getting to know people such as Rockstars and Footballers deeper or at least it gives us the idea that we are close to them or know them or have a freaking clue as to who they are as people.

    But there’s the finest of fine lines for me when it comes to having an inside look into the players or musicians and knowing way too much.

    Dogs are a perfect example.

    I love dogs and the more content I see of people with their dogs, regardless of the situation, the player, the team, it doesn’t matter: I love it. I don’t even own a dog but I love them and I love the idea of people being so damn happy, except for one group of people: rockstars.

    I grew up as a metal head and the last thing I want is to see one of my former idols or badass larger than life thrash metal musicians play with their French bulldog. Which is a dog breed I really like btw. But the thrill is gone… it makes it kinda lame and cheesy. Not that they love animals but that they have feelings. They were fine in my mind and memory as this legendary figure of a person that maybe didn’t even eat normal food and they just existed in the grandeur of metal.

    But if I’m being honest with myself I do have to say that I don’t want to know or really need to know everything that the players do all the time. It seems very invasive to me and I really think it’s pretty weird when people obsess over the love lives of the players, regardless of who their partners are.

    I think there’s a lot of infantilization of players and it just goes over my head and I’m not that interested in it. There’s very little no mystique about it anymore it seems and even though it sounds like I’m complaining, I am not. I’m just not interested in getting to know the players online’s persona anymore.

    At one time it helped me get a vibe as to who the players were, not who they were as people or their personalities but to literally remember names and faces.

    I’m not gatekeeping and definitely not saying it should be different, not at all. I’m just over it like I said, and I don’t think I’m the only one, and it’s more than ok to not see things my way.

    d ❤


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  • One more about age

    Today there’s a lot of posts on twitter, etc about Victoria Pelota’s birthday and her turning 25 years of age. To be totally honest, I thought she was way younger and if you told me she turned 21 I would have believed you, however, this post isn’t about her at all.

    One of the arguments that people had and still have about why it’s a good move for Arsenal to not renew Viv was because of her age. That rhetoric essentially made it seem like Miedema was 39 years old, which of course, she isn’t. People were saying she was in decline, which of course she isn’t.

    But this age thing is such a silly thing because it’s impossible to assign an apex to a calendar pre facto. You cannot say that a player will decline after 27 years of age and at the same time know that these are the peak years and not because I say so but because most experts agree.

    If people are excited hypothetically about a 24 year old that’s won nothing major, it is totally understandable. It is also understandable that they are passionate about their potential and their future. But 24 is not 19… and why wouldn’t you be more excited about a 27 year old entering peak years than a player that is 4 or 5 years away of their best years and have not shown anywhere near the prolific football brain and ability to feed that belief?

    I will most likely discuss this more on my podcast today/tomorrow and btw I know I haven’t uploaded one but I honestly felt that Viv’s episode deserved more grace and time and space and I didn’t want to push it down by releasing several episodes.

    Gonna shift topics completely… and this is mostly for my dutch followers… As some of you know, I’m very much into Dutch Pop. I have flown from LA to Amsterdam to watch Suzan & Freek, and Meau. I listen to that stuff all the time and artists like Maan and others have been a stable in my musicality since 2019.

    One of my dreams then, was to work with a dutch artist and as life would have it I connected with an incredible singer called Lov3less and I recorded a few songs with her, the first of which was just released. I played some snare drums and percussion on the track (I think… I forget because we did this about a year ago). it’s called High Life and you can listen to it HERE

    She signs in English so my Dutch Pop experience isn’t quite realized just yet… maar ik weet dat het snel zal gebeuren.

    d ❤


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